Custom New 52 Batman figure

AAAHHHHHH!!!  I can sleep at night now because he is FINALLY done!  The crown jewel of my figure collection.  How can I call myself a Batman fan without having MY ultimate version of Batman?  Here is an honest review of the figure that I created for myself and my thought process along the way.

The Beginning

I hate making customs of Batman.  You think making a guy that is mainly three colors would be easy, but for me, he is not.  On top of that, being such a huge fan, Bats needs to be perfect.  Any slight flaw is unacceptable making this an even bigger pain.  I was so intimidated by this figure that the base figure that I purchased for this custom sat on my desk for a year.  A freaking year!  Well, after some time, I grew some balls, bought the rest of the parts and materials, and started on this project.  Every aspect of this figure had to be perfect for me and to show you how obsessed I mean, it took five figures to make.  While the head, cape, belt and hands all come from the same figure, each figure had a flaw on one of those items, so I took the perfect aspects of those items and used them for this custom.  Yes, I know that I am crazy.

Original vs Custom

So what can I do to make the custom better than the original.  If you read my review of the retail 52 Bats (which is the base figure for this custom), I stated some of the aspects that I didn't like.  I thought the gray of the suit was too dark, not a fan of the utility belt,  head was too small, etc.

No, he is not taller than the original base figure, the custom is on a stand.  Yes, the pic is crooked because my photo skills still suck.

So here is all that I did before final paint was applied:
      Filled in peg holes:  I hate peg holes.  Both for how they look and for what a pain they are to fill in.
      Resculpted the waist:  Since the new utility belt that I was going to use had more of a dip in it, I          needed to add some sculpt in the waist so I wouldn't see the gap left behind from the old belt
     Swapped the hands:  I hate the half open hands of DCUC so I removed them and used the hands          from the DCC figure.  Since the articulation is missing from the DCUC figure, I added a screw            from where I cut at the wrist and hollowed out the gauntlet to fit the screw.
     Added the knee pads:  I think this is one of the coolest parts of the new costume detail, so I had to        add it to the custom.

Paint

Arg, this was the biggest pain.  I decided to airbrush the gray on since it is the primary color of the figure.  Airbrushing is tricky, well for me, because light colors will look differently when applied with an airbrush versus a paint brush.  Meaning?  Mess up on any part of the paint process, and this guy is getting returned to step one and being painted again (this happened three times).  I also chose not to add any sort of shading to the figure because I felt that the new etched in costume details show off shadows really well and I didn't want to lose that.

There are two shades of black on the figure, glossy for the boots, and gauntlets.  Matte black for the symbol.

Finishing touches

Once all the paint has been applied and sealed with a sealant, I added the cape, belt, and head to figure.  I left the cape unpainted but painted the head and neck piece to match the gloss black of the gauntlets and boots.  All done!  Better paint, better look, and NO articulation lose!

But WAIT!  There is more!  To be my ultimate version, this figure had to go above and be on the standard custom.  I loved unmasked versions of my famous characters.  I have no clue why but I think it is awesome.  I took the Infected Bruce Wayne head off of another figure, sanded the infection off (insert crude joke) and repainted.  Added the mask off of the Unmasked Batman figure from way back and BOOM!  Head swapping power!  Okay, now he is done and goes to my special UV, dust protecting acrylic case.

What I Would Have Done Differently

Nothing!  The guy is effing perfect.  Just kidding.  There is always something I want to improve on.  For Batman, I usually like a leather looking cape.  I used it for the ultimate Pre-52 version that I made a few years ago.  I also wish there was some hand articulation.  I have a ton of gadgets for Batman to be posed with but the one open hand makes it hard to do.  In the Pre-52 version, I had this but it looked horrible when posing a fist, so there is always a trade off.

Usually I try to stay away from artist specific looks since there are a lot of artist that draw Batman.  I had to use the Jim Lee cape, hands, and head this time because I think they are so well executed.  Thankfully, I really don't think the sculpt of the DCC figure really translated that well from the pages to figure.  A lot of artist are drawing old Bats closely to how Lee draws him and the figure's head could easily pass for a Finch and some other artists head.

Next, the cape is a little long because the figure it came from stands about seven inches and I placed it on a six inch figure.  I know another customizer that made something similar to this, cut the cape shorter on the end but I couldn't bring myself to do it.  The cape is so awesome and I wouldn't change it for the world.

Lastly, I feel like it needs some action feature.  I am going to do a write up on how the term "action figure" is being misused but, for now, I will just say that I wish this figure had something.  I wanted to add a magnet somewhere on the belt so I could store a gadget or two on him (in the back so the cape would hide it.  I tried this with a custom Robin I made once and it just looked like garbage.  Granted, I was pretty new to customizing but once you add a magnet to the belt and one to the gadget, it really takes away from the realistic look.

Well, that is it.  Feel free to leave a comment or two and let me know what you would have liked to see in this version of the Bat.

Tips on Buying a Custom Figure

Commissioning a customizer can be a tricky processes.  Heck, even buying one off of eBay is not always to easiest as well.  There are A LOT of customizers out there and, sadly, there are a few that will try to rip you off.  The customizing community is very important to me and I would like to see this community grow and continue to bring in new talent and fans.  If you are looking to commission a customizer, here are some tips on finding the right artist to get your dream figure.

Find the Right Customizer

Step one is always the easiest.  There are a ton of sites out there such as Figure Realm or The Fwoosh have a TON of customizers out there.  Take some time to look over all the different galleries and find a customizer that creates a look similar to what you are looking for.  For example, I try to create customs that (hopefully) look like they came from the factory.  A fellow customizer (and a good friend of mine) Fast Freddie has a paint style all of his own by using shading techniques to create something that looks better than a factory release.  So what is your collection looking for?  Something to blend in with your current purchases or something that will "pop" on your shelf?  This is something you need to figure out.

Find Reference Pictures

I don't know how many times I get the classic "I want a figure that looks like [insert artist's name] version in that one book."  Don't bank on a customizer to know what artist based look you are looking for.  There have been too many times where I just google the artist and the character and base my work off of that.  Most times, the customer is happy with the final product but sometimes colors or looks can be off.  I like happy customers, so I will go back and fix it but it puts a strain on the relationship with that customizer in the future if you want more figures.

Long story short, take the time to find pictures to send to the customizer so you can get the look you want.  That is the point isn't it?

Ask Questions

Of a customizer is not willing to answer your questions, I would suggest not doing business with them.  I have purchased a few customs from some of the bigger names out there and they always have taken the time to answer my questions.  By the end of the process, I received the EXACT figure that I wanted and that should be the case since a custom costs much more than a retail figure.  Which brings me to my next point...

Know Your Price Range

Customs are not cheap.  You are paying for someone's time and materials.  At the same time, you are getting what you pay for.  Someone that charges more for a custom than the next customizer might have more talent and use better materials.  Also know when you might be getting ripped off.  It is okay to ask several customizers for a quote before you commit to one.  I once had a guy quote me $500 to make a figure and another customizer, who was WAY more talented than the first, quote me $150.

Get a Time Frame

Another great thing to establish with the customizer that you decided on is the time it takes them to complete a figure.  Some guys can have a figure done in a week, some might take a few months to a year.  Know when you want to see a figure completed so you are not left in the dark.  

At the same time, don't email the customizer every day asking for an update or to inform them that they missed their deadline.  For most customizers, customizing is just a hobby.  These guys have full time jobs, families, and other priorities.  Also, things just come up.  For example, I wanted to have a commission done a month ago but I had to unexpectedly move across the country and then I had to get into an eBay dispute with a seller that tried not to send me the parts I ordered to complete this figure.  Thank God, my customer is a very patient individual and has not let this effect our customizer/customer relationship.

Final payment

Know what the final price is before the project starts.  List out what you want and find out how much it is going to cost you.  Also know that if you request changes mid-project, that is probably going to cost you more than what was originally quoted.  Find out if the change is going to cost you more before the customizer changes it.  If the new price is reasonable to you, have them make the change.  If it is not, well, I really don't know what to tell you.  Ideally, know EVERY aspect of what you want out of the customizer and the figure you want before they send you a quote.  That way these mid-project negotiations so not come up.

Cover your butt when you make a purchase as well.  Most customizers ask for a down payment before they start, usually half of the final price.  This is fair because you don't know who you can trust on the internet.  By paying half, the customizer will be able to recoup their time and materials if the customer doesn't pay when the figure is done.  For the customer, you are not out the complete amount if the customizer never finishes the figure.  Also, DO NOT gift the payment when using Paypal.  Most customizers will hate me for saying that but you need to cover your butt as the buyer and if they are too cheap to pay the fees, then they should have factored that in for their final price.

Finally, PAY FOR THE FIGURE IN FULL!!!  Customizers talk to one another.  Their are so many dead beat buyer lists out there, it is not even funny.  So if your name pops up on one of them, good luck having anyone make you a figure.

eBay

This last point is short and sweet.  When bidding on a custom figure and you lose the auction, it is okay to contact the customizer.  Each customizer has their own way of handling this.  Some won't answer your e-mail, some will tell you they don't take commissions, some might say "sure".  For me, I am going to charge you more than what the auction went for.  That is fair to the person that put the most money down on the table to win the auction because that is what I feel is fair.

There you have it.  This might be missing some detailed points but here is the basics.  I am trying to quickly write this over my lunch break so feel free to ask me to elaborate more in the comments.

Dear Mattel and Hasbro, You Failed!

Mother of God, I hate big business executives.  Too be fair, I hate the executives from companies that I used to work for.  One company completely destroyed a great story on one of the games that I worked on and had a hack of a Hollywood writer make a HORRIBLE story line.  Game did horrible, and after a few more bad executive decisions, the company filed for bankruptcy.

That is in the past and we are here to talk about action figures.  The point of this post is to highlight the failures of Mattel and Hasbro.  These two companies have the rights to make figures for two of the greatest comic book companies' characters ever.  I, for one, am tired of their bullshit excuses as to why we can't get the figures that the fans (aka the people who are providing the money that fill this morons pockets) want.

Hasbro:

Oh Hasbro, talk about being handed a genie bottle and throwing it away.  Toy Biz handed (metaphorically) you a great franchise and you just fumbled it.  I give Hasbro credit that they took a lot of slack from fans when they released the first Return of Marvel Legends (ROML) line.  This slack was really unfair in my mind as they added some of great new characters and they did it fairly cheaply by using a lot of old molds from Toy Biz.  Fans could see a continuation of improvement in each series that followed (rocker ankles, hell yeah!).

Failure comes in the sense of your business tactics.  I want to give you my money, but I can't find your damn product anywhere!  In store, online (I am not including the heavily inflated eBay prices), no where.  My business sense is I can't make money if I am not providing something to my customers.  I take it these execs must of missed that Econ class.

Now, as of 2013 SDCC, Hasbro has announced that the ROML is done and fans can only get characters in 6 inch form if there is a movie closely related to those characters.  What?!  For a fan such as myself, this will not really effect me.  Wolverine is my second favorite character and with the Wolverine movie and X-Men movies coming out in the future, that is two toy series that I will get.  Are you a Fantastic Four fan?  Good luck seeing any characters in the near future because there is NOTHING slated for them.  That has to hurt some of the profit margins for Hasbro as FF fans might not be a majority, they still buy figures.

Mattel:

Mattel, I saved you for last because you are the biggest offender.  You have almost 80 years of DC history.  Comic book characters change outfits almost as much as I change underwear.  On top of that, you have four to five generic body types that easily fit over 90% of the body types of the DC characters.  Yet fans have to pay to be part of a club and some of those costs go to tooling new body parts.  I didn't realize that new head sculpts and other little parts cost so much.  I honestly don't know the costs but they can't be so much that they can kill a whole line.

The funniest part is that you guys greatly use the Build A Figure (BAF) to near perfection in the past.  Take wave sixteen (http://www.itsalltrue.net/?page_id=8934) for example.  I am a modern Batman fan, meaning that I like the dark brooding asshole that he is.  I hate the idea of Robin (though I love that Nightwing, Red Hood, and Red Robin evolved into respectable characters after leaving the side of Batman).  I hate the campy old silver age costumes.  I hate the Knightfall series because Bruce Wayne is the only person that I want to see in the Batman costume.  So what does this have to do with anything?  For starters, I hate every character that is in this wave and the voice in my head says that I should not buy a damn one of them.  But that Bane BAF is so effing amazing (even though he is too tall for scale) and I would buy every one of these figures just to get Bane.  Hasbro does the same thing and I feel it is a great strategy to get people to buy characters that they would normally ignore but Mattel, you are making BAFs of amazing characters and you still have A LOT of opportunities for more!  If it aint broke, don't fix it!

Mattel are also great offenders of the distribution.  Why can't I find your figures?!  I have lived in the Midwest and now on the East Coast and I still can't find your damn figures!  I live in the third biggest city in New York!  There are four TRUs, three Wal-Marts, three targets, and dozens of comic book stores within ten minutes of my house, so there is no excuse here.

Believe it or not, Mattel, you have a great advantage over DC Collectibles.  I love the style of your designs.  The Four Horsemen do such a great job of mixing up great aspects of DC artists and pump out beautiful generic characters.  I have every single Batman Hush figure from DCC (DC Direct at the time) because they are based on Jim Lee's (remember, my favorite artist) art.  Unfortunately, the figures lack articulation (a must for me) and I will not get other characters that can stand next to them because most lines are so artist based that they would look out of place next to my Hush figures.  Now DCC is adding a ton of articulation (finally!) and the Capullo Batman looks amazing.  Sooner or later (hopefully WAY later), Capullo will leave for another book and a new artist will come aboard.  I don't want to have to wait a year or two while the new artist's rendition of the figure is made.  I want to look at my generic (yet awesome) DCUC Batman that embodies all of the great Batman artists in one figure.  Okay, you already made that figure (see my first review) but there are other characters out there that I would love to see this with and I know I am not the only fan that sees that.

Closing Thoughts:

Hasbro and Mattel, stop failing us.  Yes, I realize that tooling costs and production fees are eating into your profits but something tells me that if you actually made more figures, had better distribution, and better quality assurance (I did not touch this topic as it is well documented on the net already and you will also seeing the same mistakes over all my reviews) you would make more money.  Yes, maybe you only make half of what you have made in the past but I guarantee you, if people can walk into any retailer or visit their favorite figure site, you guys would not be posting profit losses.

Econ lesson 101:  Supply and demand.  The demand is there (and it is overwhelming), now where is the supply!

Wave 21 (All-Star) Batman

aka the New 52 Batman

First and foremost, I apologize.  I would like to tell you that I have an older SLR camera and that is because of the poor photos.  The fact is, I have a lot to learn about taking photos, posing figures, and patience.  Hopefully as this blog rolls on, the skills will improve.

First off, as a retail figure, this is my current favorite retail made figure.  I know a lot of fan boys will trash this figure or mention that there are a lot better figures out there, and they are probably right.  This is MY favorite because it has a majority of what I look for in a figure.  I like my figures in the six inch scale, a great blend of excellent sculpt and great articulation.  Lastly, it has to be comic accurate (or as close as possible), something that is very hard for toy makers to pull off.  It also helps that Batman is my all time favorite character.

My buddy Shane and I have had conversations way too long about how I feel that comic characters should be drawn and Shane feels that artist should be allowed to be creative.  The best part of the New 52 is DC artists are expected to maintain a certain level of consistency with the look of the character.  The Four Horsemen hit this sculpt out of the park.  While I feel that Jim Lee draws Batman the best, he is not drawing him all the time and I love owning figures that are a great blend of multiple artists and this is what makes this one great.

Pros of the figure:

Obviously I already raved about the sculpt that is well deserved.  Pretty much all the parts are new to the DCUC line.  I believe only the shoulder and bicep parts are previously used.  I am a big fan of the New 52 costumes, especially Batman's (you really start hating the outside underwear after you have to put them on as a costume).  The etching in the costume looks great on the top of the figure.  Both Batman and the Superman figure share the same lower torso but it works better for Batman here.  The raised bat symbol looks great and is a nice blend of Lee and Capullo (another one of my favorite artists) and is perfectly sized for my liking.  The head sculpt is a nice blend of various artists and I love the stern look on Batman's face.  I always hate the teeth bearing faces on figures because it looks like they are holding in their bowels.

The cape here is the best cape I have seen on a Batman figure by Mattel and that includes the capes from DC Superheroes line.  Instead of the neck of the cowl being part of the figure and being painted, the cape starts at the neck and is one piece.  On top of that the shading in the cape is great as well.  Subtle shading that is not overdone to the point that it looks fake.  Below is a heavily flashed picture to give you a better idea of the shading on the cape.

The articulation is great as well but is really not a highlight on the figure since it is pretty standard across the DCUC line.

Cons of the figure:

Even though this is my favorite retail figure, there are some flaws.  As I mentioned before, I want the most comic accurate representation of Batman.  One of the new costume details is knee pads that look like bats.  If you told be this was an added detail two years ago, I would have laughed and said that it was stupid.  For some one known reason, I love it and it looks great.  Unfortunately, this detail is missing from the figure.  They have something there on the bottom portion of the leg as far as etching, but there is no top half of the pad and there is nothing that represents the bat look of the pads.

The famous utility belt is not bad but it is not great.  Pretty much every artist is drawing the pouches with no spaces in between, but this one has spaces.  The new look also gives me the impression that the pouches are more metal than cloth and the sculpt gives me the impression that pouches are a cloth type material.  I also like the Jim Lee look of the slight dip of the buckle but this belt is straight across.  Not a deal breaker but it doesn't help.

The other complaint is that of the retail curse, paint and coloring.  I was extremely lucky with this figure by the fact that the paint on it is very solid with only minor slop.  There is a part his exposed face that paint is missing from, but I will just boil and pop a head off of one of the figures I used to make a custom on.  The only other fact is I am not a big fan of the gray color of the suit and the lack of shading.  The gray is a lot darker than how most colorist are portraying Batman in the comic and, while it is not a deal breaker for me, it looks nothing like what I was promised in the preview pictures (below).  To top it off, they used the preview picture on the back of the packaging to show you how great this figure could have been.  From what I can tell, there is no shading on the gray portion as well and that makes me sad after seeing the preview pics.  Finally, most artist draw the belt all one color but the buckle and pouch snaps on the figure have a bronze paint app.  I realize they are trying to break up the color and not have a monotone color but I would have liked to have seen all gold with some shading. 

My last small gripe is in the form of the sculpt.  While the hands are new (added detail on the back of the gloves), I have always hated the partly open fists of the DCUC figures.  It takes away from a pose as no person punches with their hand half open.  I know some people like to have Batman holding a gadget or something but I am not one of those people.  The other sculpt issue is the thigh piece is shorter compared to other DCUC lines in the past.  This means Bats stands a cm or two shorter than most figures in the line.

The last complaint is the cape is too short for my liking.  I like the bat capes to at least be touching the ground or as close as possible.  I don't look at the figure in disgust, I just like longer capes.

It should also be noted that some reviewers have commented that their Batman has a bobble head effect going on with a loose neck joint, my figure did not suffer from this.

Final Rating:  Must get!

If you are a Batman fan and you collect DCUC then this is great addition to your collection.  The only real deal breaker that I see for certain people is if they are not fans of the updated New 52 costumes.  For me, the new design is a breath of fresh air and the Four Horsemen did a great job of putting the new design in 3D form.

Customizer or Collector?

To be or not to be?  I am a collector and a customizer but, at the same time, I can not be both and it annoys the piss out of me.  I want to be, I can't afford to be and I am not patient enough to be.  To those that can be both, I applaud you.  Either you have pockets deeper than mine or skills that make me look like an amateur.

Why I can't be a pro customizer:

The ebay auctions say it all.  I think I have had less then ten customs that I have made go over $100 in my ebay career.  When you have bills to pay, that is not good for a customizer.  I know my flaws, I have to improve on my sculpting, airbrushing, photo taking skills (believe me, it makes a huge difference), and (most importantly) patience.  I try to find as much time as I can to customize as it is my stress reliever (really depends on the figure) and it is my way to get the figure that I wanted.  Fixing the (my opinionated) mistakes of the company that made the original figure or getting a figure that has yet to be made.  Best part is, I don't have to wait for a new costume to be made and go through all the steps of being produced that a retail figure has to go through.

The tough part is customizing is expensive.  The tools, the materials, and (the most expensive) the figures.  Hopefully this week I will be able to review the Batman figure that I made.  This is the one figure that I obsess over the most.  This is the second version of the figure that I made because the first version had a slight gap in one of the articulation joints.  My girlfriend thought I was nuts when I noticed this but it was one of those things that bugged me for weeks until I just got a hold of a new base figure and made version 2.  On top of that, I want through three DCC New 52 Batmans ($25 a piece, you can do the math) to get the perfect parts that I wanted to add to the base figure.  That all starts adding up as, without materials and paint, is five action figures purchased to make one figure.  So for all you companies out there that want to sue customizers because you are not getting "your cut" (yes, I realize that I have not paid the respected owners of the properties) but if you think about it you really are.  I got one figure, you sold five Warner Brothers.  You win in that exchange but I will leave that rant to another day.  Luckily, I was able sell version one and recoup most of those expenses but damn it sucked.

Why I can't be a collector:

I had this goal to get every Marvel Legends and every DC Universe figure MOC (if you don't know what MOC means, you shouldn't be on this page but if you really want to know leave a comment or email me).  This is a VERY expensive dream.  Current figures run around the $20 mark and older figures can cost you up to $200, so that goal is quickly becoming a dream.

The biggest reason I can never be a true collector is because of that prick customizer mentioned above.  He views EVERY figure as possible fodder (parts that can be taken from a manufactured figure and added to a custom, ruining the original figure).  I wanted to have a MOC DCC New 52 Batman for the future, maybe pass on to one of my future kids, but I noticed a flaw in the Batman mentioned above and the MOC figure quickly became fodder.

On top of that, I think factory figures are great but there are times where I feel that I can add something better and that is why most of the figures on my shelf have some sort of customization to it.  Some mods are noticeable, some are not.

I recently had an unexpected move (don't worry, it was a blessing) that had me sell a good junk of my collection off, so the hunt begins again...slowly.  I am glad this happened as I was starting to lose interest in Marvel Legends (even though they are coming out with some really great stuff) and was coming back to DCUC stuff.  Of course, I am kicking myself for selling the uber rare Lobo and black and gray DCSH Batman that I had MOC but such is life.

So there is my dilemma, I want to be both but I can't.  A flash of Batman Forever came into my head when he is trying to solve the riddle of whether he was Bruce Wayne or Batman.  Do I have delusions of grandeur?  Probably.

Figure reviews soon!

Introduction

This figure sucks!  There it is out of the way.  I decided to start this blog as an outlet for my opinion of certain figures.  It should be taken that way...MY opinion.  I will probably say things that other figure reviewers have already said or things that will counter what their opinions are.

Hopefully this won't be the case and I will add some new opinions on certain figures; maybe help you, the reader, add a great figure to your collection or help you save some money by not adding money to a crap figure.  You will be seeing some reviews on figures that have been out for years and some new figures (if Mattel and Hasbro get off their asses) and will be updated as much as my paycheck will allow.

New to the reviews will be HONEST reviews of my customs (Truwe's Custom Figures).  I have been doing some level of customization my whole life.  I want to say my first figure that I worked out was a Raphael from the 1990 Movie TMNT figure and have tried to grow (and screwed up many times) since.  Whatever line I am currently collecting, I have to have THE best version of that favorite character.  If you collect, you know that buying a factory made figure means that either the paint will be off somewhere and I always seem to notice it.

So this is the beginning.  A bunch of rants from a Quality Assurance Engineer (my day job) that notices flaws (some might not even be there) and tries to fixes them or just yells into the night.   Either way, I hope this will be a fun ride.

Leave comments or e-mail me.

Enjoy!